Girls' Guide

Photo by Maureen SullivanEmily Wadham, left, owner of Arise Farm to Table Pizza in Amherst, MA, and Emily French, founder of Sweetgrass Herbals in Sterling, MA, are collaborating on a menu featuring inventive pizzas and cocktails using medicinal herbs and other fresh, local ingredients.

It may sound like an odd combination, but it's just what the doctor ordered. Or, at least what herbalist Emily French, founder of Sweetgrass Herbals in Sterling and Emily Wadham, owner of Arise, Farm to Table Pizza in Amherst, hope you will want to order from the restaurant's menu.

The two have collaborated on the creation of special cocktails and pizzas, using locally grown herbs with medicinal properties.

We recently had the pleasure of sampling pizzas and cocktails using herbs from Sweetgrass Herbals and other local ingredients - and we were blown away by the interesting and unique combinations.

We began the evening with a cocktail created by Emily Wadham, who is the most amazingly creative mixologist we know. The drink, mixed the medieval herb costamary with Berkshire Mountain Distillery's Ethereal Gin and a bit of simple syrup, all garnished with a nasturtium. Because costmary was used by women to stay awake in church, we named the new cocktail "Keep a Wench Awake."

Then there was the pizza (among other libations with herbs). The Orchard was a sweet white pie with apples, onions, and cheddar, topped with sage. The Original Modesty featured figs, chicken breast and rosemary, all of which played together very sweetly.

We've given you just a taste of this unique culinary collaboration. Check the November issue of Girls for more.